For Immediate Release: October 29 , 2004
Contact: Michael Williams 970-882-5624

Light Painting Exhibit at Anasazi Heritage Center

Beginning November 22, the Anasazi Heritage Center will host a unique photographic exhibit of sacred places and prehistoric monuments throughout the Four Corners and beyond. The dramatic and intensely-colored images are products of a painstaking technique perfected by Lorran Meares, the artist behind the exhibit. “Moments in Time” will be on display at the museum’s Special Exhibit Gallery through February 13, 2005.

More than photography, Meares calls his work “light-painting” because he uses a variety of flashlights and spotlights with colored filters to emphasize his personal vision of his subjects. He works mainly at night, or in the dim twilight of dusk or dawn, to alter typical time-exposures into an effect that seems surreal at first sight. But Meares might argue the results are hyper-real, reflecting the spiritual power he senses there. Ancient walls seem to glow from within, while surrounding trees and plants pulse with vivid green energy against a violet sky that vibrates with circling stars.

Meares has earned international recognition with his complex images, which have been published widely in photographic textbooks and journals as well as in calendars and magazines. They have found a place in the collections of Polaroid Corporation International Collection of Photography; Toyota Motors USA, and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute of Natural History. His work has been commissioned by the American Museum of Natural History, the National Park Service, and the Sierra Club, and he has been interviewed by Tom Brokaw on NBC Nightly News.

Meares is committed to creating art that speaks for the need to protect sacred places and cultural traditions. Over the last fifteen years, he has worked in cooperation with the Department of Interior, state parks, the Sierra Club, and a variety of Native American tribal groups on special projects documenting endangered sites.

Meares began developing his light-painting techniques in the early 70s. “With experience I have learned to distinguish subtle variations and seldom need to confirm my exposure settings with a meter,” he says. “I want to be surprised by the image! No one can truly predict how the magical night sky will record, or how leaves shuddering in the breeze will appear on the final product.”

Setup for a light-painting begins hours in advance of nightfall. “When I approach a site, I’ll spend a lot of time just standing in a spot, moving close to a rock or a tree, then moving further away, walking around, feeling the resonant energy of the place,” he says.

The first minutes of exposure at twilight may be the most important, as the encroaching dusk emphasizes cloud formations and natural light effects. Many of his handmade large format cameras are don’t even have a shutter. He carefully removes the lens caps to begin an exposure. As the natural light fades to near-total darkness, Meares begins to paint. “As I walk about in front of the camera, I paint everything I want the film to see,” he says. A single exposure may take an hour, or an entire night. “I relate strongly to the act of making images at night. It’s a very spiritual, visually tantalizing time. For many photographers, daytime inspires very little beyond the cliché, the ‘picture-postcard moment.’ It’s nothing like being out at night.

“My color choices are purely subjective, based on site-inspired sensations related to energy,” says Meares. One Hopi grandmother, reflecting on his image of a site well-known to her, interpreted it as the brightly colored, ceremonially painted Kachina of that place. You are fortunate, she told Meares, to have had the Spirit reveal itself to you in that way.

Stereoscopic photography is another specialty of Meares, and the exhibit will includean installation allowing the visitor to experience a large-format three-dimensional image.

Original framed prints from the exhibit will be available for purchase through the artist, who plans to donate a portion of his sales to the museum to support future exhibit and interpretive projects.

The Anasazi Heritage Center is operated by the Bureau of Land Management. It is three miles west of Dolores, and is open daily from 9 to 4 except for Christmas, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s Day. Admission is free through March 1.

For more information, contact the Center at (970) 882-4811, or visit the Center’s web site at www.co.blm.gov.

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